37-year-old suspect who allegedly assaulted Russian tourist in Pattaya released by police due to lack of victim’s testimony

[Cake Monster]

I am positive that his action by he BIB will send out the message to any potential Tourists that intend to visit Thailand .... 

A) You are not safe

B ) Even if attacked, the Police will not seek justice for you.

Just another nail in the Coffin that was once a thriving and prosperous Tourism Industry, But now is just a sad and sick shadow of its former self, struggling to stay afloat in a World where people are now more savvy with their Money

[Dials on my Dash]

Savage backwaters, what if their sister? 

[Liverpool Lou]

53 minutes ago, internationalism said:

he drove a car with the government registration plate. 

What is a "government registration plate" that is different from any other car/pickup registration plate and how does it differ?   

 

The police have specific registration plates, the armed forces do, royal family vehicles do and there are diplomatic plates issued to foreign government vehicles but I've never heard of "government registrations".   Can you enlighten me?

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, Dukeleto said:

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

No one can like this situation, obviously, but if the police have no actual evidence against him for the attack and the victim cannot testify against him in court, how far do you think a case could go if he pleads not guilty?   It wouldn't even get past the prosecutor's office.

Expand  

I disagree. He told police he did it. Any judge with their salt would not accept a not guilty plea with that evidence from the police themselves. 

"Any judge with their salt would not accept a not guilty plea with that evidence from the police themselves".

 

A police station is not a court and anyone can change their plea at any time, judges cannot choose which plea they find acceptable at the start of a trial!   

 

An initial admission to the police is not evidence that can necessarily convict.   Bear in mind that regardless of what the police want, or what an accused has said, the case has to be presented to the prosecutors at the Attorney General's office for indictment before it can proceed to trial.   If there is no evidence likely to produce a conviction it will not get past that stage.

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, kwak250 said:

Wow so if there is no case then it didn't happen .

 

This is not the sort of message that the police should be giving out.

 

It seems there are no consequences here for many crimes apart from drugs.

No one (apart from you) has said that the attack didn't happen.  What has been indicated is that there is no evidence at this stage that would get the case to trial.  No evidence against him (his initial admission isn't evidence if he changes his plea) and no testimony from the woman.  

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, KCPhuket said:

There would be DNA evidence as well if anybody here gave a s*** thai man no problem walk away.

Sickening

Perhaps they did give a <deleted> but found no DNA evidence.  It happens.

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, vandeventer said:

Why would female tourist even want to come to Thailand? Is this justice? Or just us?

It's just you. 99.99% of tourists have a great holiday and get back home without being attacked by anyone.

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, Dan O said:

The victim never accused anyone as she has a loss of memory from the attack. The police tracked and identified him and then he admitted it, along with multiple other attacks in the past.  Something else is going on in the background it appears.  It wouldn't be surprising if he knows someone

,  is related to someone or there's some connection somehow 

...or the police do not have any empirical evidence against him, which they would need.  An accused can retract an admission at any time

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, aussienam said:

Why keystone cops? This is what happens nearly everywhere else in the world.  If there is insufficient evidence to lay charges then police have no choice.  Arbitrary detention of suspects attracts legal issues. Then then the public backflip and criticize police for holding people without enough evidence.  

 

A lack of identification evidence is a major issue in any investigation. If a victim's testimony (statement) lacks positive ID, then what can anyone do?  It applies anywhere from a shoplifting to a murder.  In a murder, the ID issues are often more difficult. 

 

Murder suspects are often tagged and released due to lack of evidence and if more evidence is obtained, then they can be re-arrested (as long as you are able to prevent them from leaving the country before you have legal rights to arrest).  Nothing new there.  Happens all over the world. 

 

We may speculate on what we read in news reports and its apparent accuracy and be critical but we do not know all the evidence or lack thereof on hand. 

 

ASEAN news journalists do not get 'carte blanche' access to all the police investigation either.  So often the news reports are full of missing parts and forum posters speculate on police investigations armed with limited information. 

 

The apparent reported admissions made by the suspect - let's see the video/transcripts/signed confession.  Was there any?  Was it done under duress?  

 

If the female was attacked, hopefully the clothing and anything else where the suspect may have touched or left DNA evidence behind (which by the way is not always guaranteed), has been retained and sent to forensic laboratories to compare against the suspect's DNA and fingerprints (if any) - to either match or eliminate him or remain undetermined. 

 

Hopefully there were crime scenes established and forensic evidence retained.  CCTV, phone records, possible other witnesses, etc, etc. 

 

I do realise that crime scene preservation and evidence collection procedures here do frequently fall short of other international standards though and forensic evidence can be contaminated/ruined. Other times they seem to get it right. 

 

I also get that there is also rampant corruption and systemic apathy towards crime solving (low wages, lack of training and accountability and local police culture). 

 

Media interest often means the case becomes higher priority and more scrutiny both from external and internal senior police management and hence more resources and specialist support. I hope so.  

The most sensible and rational post of this thread, so far, but those qualities don't go down well with most Thaivisa posters!

[internationalism]

19 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

What is a "government registration plate" that is different from any other car/pickup registration plate and how does it differ?   

 

The police have specific registration plates, the armed forces do, royal family vehicles do and there are diplomatic plates issued to foreign government vehicles but I've never heard of "government registrations".   Can you enlighten me?

I don't know or care, but you can find it in the article about his arrest.

How is your social life, you asking me questions on many topics?

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, LikeItHot said:

In another thread I pointed out how corruption was our greatest problem here and when it us us against a Thai we always lose and we can be victimized any day by anyone without reprecussion The bar stool warriors said I was crazy.  Didn't take long to prove my point.  

"I pointed out how corruption was our greatest problem here and when it us us against a Thai we always lose ... Didn't take long to prove my point".

You haven't proved that point yet.  

 

"The bar stool warriors said I was crazy".

Hmmm.   Don't know about "crazy" but you haven't said anything empirically true so they may have been getting warm.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Unfortunately you are correct.  But logic doesn't fit the  obsessive anti Thai narrative  of many members of this forum. The cops and the authorities in general  really hate crimes against  tourists as it ruins their  narrative.

Let's hope this coward  is bought to justice. 

Hear, hear.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, brianthainess said:

This makes no sense he already admitted the offence, oh i forgot where i was. 

Just as in any country, not just Thailand, an accused can change his plea or retract a confession at any time.   Criminal cases very rarely, if at all, get to trial based on nothing more than an initial admission to police.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, brianthainess said:

HE already admitted it.

Doesn't matter, that's not enough on it's own.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, Harveyboy said:

but didn't he actually admit saying it was frustration..so got a confession and still can't ( don't want) to prosecute..only in thailand eh 

Nonsense, it's not "only in Thailand, eh".  Confessions alone, without corroborating evidence such as in this case, don't get past the prosecutor's office in any country.   

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, internationalism said:

Police should not close this case

They haven't said that they are closing it...

"Nong Prue police confirmed that they would wait for the victim to make a better recovery to hear her testimony in order to bring the suspect into the justice system".

Edited May 23, 2022 by Liverpool Lou

[Henk Langeweg]

Will keep him for herself to punish. That's how they do it in parts of Russia.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Strange news-blips state he basically confessed, but that's not enough to charge & prosecute

It's never enough, on it's own, to prosecute, anywhere, unfortunately.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

I'm pretty sure a previous report said he worked in a government office or had some kind of government job. Can't find it now, but if so I suspect he has some kind of connection that allowed him to buy his way out of this.

 

Pretty sickening either way, given that he confessed.

You seem to be ignoring the fact that, at this stage, there is apparently no evidence against him, nor any testimony from the victim, yet.   The case isn't closed, though.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, internationalism said:

yes, if he claims psychological problems, that includes self-harm (he claimed he slashed his arms), he should be kept locked in hospital for up to 2 weeks observation.

With what authority, or are you suggesting kidnap, abduction and false imprisonment to get him hospitalised?    Maybe you should give up your medical career and start your own law practise!

[4MyEgo]

5 hours ago, thailand49 said:

The guy supposedly made the admission from another article?  that would be enough to at least hold the individual until further investigation. 

Um, have you ever heard of coercion ?

 

This is why they need the victim to also identify him, as it backs up his statement.

 

A statement by the alleged perpetrator would be kicked out of court based on insufficient evidence. i.e. a statement on it's own is in admissible. 

[Liverpool Lou]

57 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

Just another nail in the Coffin that was once a thriving and prosperous Tourism Industry, But now is just a sad and sick shadow of its former self

Gawd...another nail in that coffin that Thaivisa posters can never get closed, possibly because the numbers of visitors to Thailand are increasing every day now things are starting to get back to pre-Covid normal.

[vandeventer]

35 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

It's just you. 99.99% of tourists have a great holiday and get back home without being attacked by anyone.

So where do you get the 99.99 % from the government? And what about the ones that have been attacked that don't want to talk about it. Do you think this is really a good idea to let this guy go?

[Liverpool Lou]

32 minutes ago, internationalism said:

54 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

What is a "government registration plate" that is different from any other car/pickup registration plate and how does it differ?   

 

The police have specific registration plates, the armed forces do, royal family vehicles do and there are diplomatic plates issued to foreign government vehicles but I've never heard of "government registrations".   Can you enlighten me?

Expand  

I don't know or care, but you can find it in the article about his arrest.

How is your social life, you asking me questions on many topics?

"I don't know or care..."

Maybe you should stop posting false information, then.

 

How is your social life, you asking me questions on many topics?

Don't worry about my social life, it's fine, thanks but the number of odd things that you so frequently claim may suggest something about yours!   This is a forum, if you post comments don't be surprised if you get responses.

[Bkk Brian]

Last report from the Police investigator was:

 

"The man clearly ambushed the Russian lady and the attack was premeditated and planned. He had followed her in his pick-up and on seeing that she had entered a quiet and lonely area, made a U-turn so that he could attack her."

 

How things change

[smew]

This action will only re-inforce his feeling of invincibility and he will do it again next time with more venom and force and the out come will be a lot worst.

 

[smew]

WHAT A FARCE: According to the police report, the suspect reportedly admitted to the assault but claimed he was stressed about his personal family affairs and debt and wanted to vent it on someone, contradicting the police’s initial assumption of sexual assault.     

[Liverpool Lou]

4 minutes ago, vandeventer said:

45 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

It's just you. 99.99% of tourists have a great holiday and get back home without being attacked by anyone.

So where do you get the 99.99 % from the government? And what about the ones that have been attacked that don't want to talk about it. Do you think this is really a good idea to let this guy go?

"So where do you get the 99.99 % from..."

I worked it out for myself based on the number of visitors Thailand gets in normal times, approximately 39,000,000.    It's probably higher than 99.99% unless you think that there are 3,900+ such attacks on tourists confirmed each year!

 

The "ones who are attacked and don't want to talk about it" are, by definition, nothing more speculation on your part.

 

"Do you think this is really a good idea to let this guy go?"

Not if there is any evidence against him, no, I do not.  If there is evidence, and apparently there isn't, he cannot be held, obviously, whether anyone likes it or not.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 minutes ago, smew said:

WHAT A FARCE: According to the police report, the suspect reportedly admitted to the assault but claimed he was stressed about his personal family affairs and debt and wanted to vent it on someone, contradicting the police’s initial assumption of sexual assault.     

It would be an even bigger farce if the case went to trial with no evidence apart from his initial admission that can be retracted at any time.

[billd766]

6 hours ago, bbko said:

The lesson this predator just learned is next time find places without CCTV cameras, wear a mask, attack from behind and at night and the victim can't identify you.

 

What about the theory floating around AN, that this school teacher was offered money to "not remember" what the attacker looked like?

Please stop with the what aboutery and speculation. The police have a far better idea what happened than you, I or anybody else.

 

According to the police there does not seem to be any hard evidence (other than his so called confession) so they cannot hold him indefinitely. The police have done their job and it is handed over to the prosecutors to decide if there is enough evidence to prosecute him or not.

 

It seems as though at this point there is not, so therefore he must be released.

 

Did he do it or not? 

 

I have no idea and unless there are posters who can access the police and prosecution files, neither does any other poster on this thread.